tongue

¹tongue

noun \ˈtəŋ\

Definition of TONGUE

1

a : a fleshy movable muscular process of the floor of the mouths of most vertebrates that bears sensory end organs and small glands and functions especially in taking and swallowing food and in humans as a speech organ b : a part of various invertebrate animals that is analogous to the tongue

2

: the flesh of a tongue (as of the ox or sheep) used as food

3

: the power of communication through speech

4

a : language; especially : a spoken language b : manner or quality of utterance with respect to tone or sound, the sense of what is expressed, or the intention of the speaker <she has a clever tongue> <a sharp tongue> c : ecstatic usually unintelligible utterance usually accompanying religious excitation —usually used in plural d : the cry of or as if of a hound pursuing or in sight of game —used especially in the phrase to give tongue

5

: a tapering flame <tongues of fire>

6

: a long narrow strip of land projecting into a body of water

7

: something resembling an animal's tongue in being elongated and fastened at one end only: as a : a movable pin in a buckle b : a metal ball suspended inside a bell so as to strike against the sides as the bell is swung c : the pole of a vehicle d : the flap under the lacing or buckles of a shoe at the throat of the vamp

8

a : the rib on one edge of a board that fits into a corresponding groove in an edge of another board to make a flush joint b : feather 4

— tongue·like \-ˌlīk\ adjective

Examples of TONGUE

1. The cow ran its tongue over its lips.
2. The taste of the spice was still on her tongue.
3. The little girl stuck her tongue out at me.
4. He spoke in a foreign tongue.
5. English is my native tongue.
6. They speak the same tongue.
7. His sharp tongue is going to get him into trouble someday.

Origin of TONGUE

Middle English tunge, from Old English; akin to Old High German zunga tongue, Latin lingua

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to TONGUE

Synonyms: lingo, mother tongue, speech, language, vocabulary

Related Words: acrolect; argot, cant, colloquial, dialect, idiolect, idiom, jargon, parlance, patois, patter, pidgin, slang, slanguage, vernacular; colloquialism, localism, provincialism, regionalism, shibboleth, vernacularism; terminology; coinage, modernism, neologism

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Other Anatomy Terms

bilateral symmetry, carotid, cartilage, dorsal, entrails, prehensile, renal, solar plexus, supine, thoracic, ventral

Rhymes with TONGUE

bung, dung, hung, lung, pung, rung, tung, young